Lando Norris entered the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with a three-point lead over teammate Oscar Piastri in the Drivers’ Championship.
But a crash in Q3 on Saturday put Norris on the back foot, and the McLaren driver rolled off the line tenth when the lights went out at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Norris started on the hard tire — as opposed to the rest of the top ten who all began on the medium compound — and went long, picking up multiple places on his elongated stint. He inherited the lead on Lap 30 after the leaders all made their pit stops, but eventually settled for a fourth-place finish, just over a second behind third-place finisher Charles Leclerc.
It was another strong recovery drive from the McLaren driver, but it was not enough to hold onto his lead in the Drivers’ Championship. With Piastri taking the win ahead of Max Verstappen, Norris’ teammate now tops the table, with a ten-point advantage.
“That was a tough one,” admitted Norris when speaking with the official F1 channel. “This track is tough, this temperature is tough and it’s flat out. There’s no saving on the tires here, it’s flat out from start to finish. I was struggling – not in terms of physically, but just in terms of having enough of an advantage over the rest to come back through as much as I would have wanted.
“It would have been nice to get Charles and have a little podium and I’d drink all the champagne right now because I would love that – or the apple juice would be even better. I dream of that at the minute.
“But I think it was the best that we could achieve today. Clearly, we’re not head and shoulders above the rest.”
Norris then admitted that not only was he looking ahead to a break, as the grid has a week off before the Miami Grand Prix, but that he makes life tough for himself sometimes.
“As Oscar showed, it’s not an easy race. Max probably would have won if he hadn’t had the penalty. We’ve got those kinds of issues still. It’s not easy races, which just means that when I make mistakes like yesterday, like some other races because I’m just not getting as much as I need to, I make my life pretty tough like today,” added Norris.
“I’m still happy. I’m happy with my comeback. It’s the best that I could achieve and now I’m looking forward to a break.”
As for where he needs to improve, Norris pointed to Saturdays. As we saw on Saturday at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, that extra risk inside the car can lead to disaster, especially at a track that punishes mistakes like the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
“It’s my Quali, it’s my Saturdays which are not good enough at the minute, my one-lap pace. Like I’ve said before, it’s because I’m struggling a little bit with the car – Saturday was not the car, it was just me trying to take too many risks, so I’ve just got to peg it back,” continued Norris.
“Clearly, I’ve got the pace and it’s all in there. It’s just sometimes I try to ask for a bit too much and sometimes I get a bit too eager for a little bit more and want to put the most perfect lap together and I just need to chill out a little bit.”
Now Norris gets to head back to Miami, where he secured his first Grand Prix victory a year ago. The circuit will look a little different than it did in 2024, as there will be a McLaren Grandstand, a section of fans sitting together to honor the team, and that maiden Grand Prix victory.
Will that help to “chill out” Norris a bit? We’ll find out in a few weeks.
